Sen. Christopher Coons

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2022 Report Card for Coons.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Coons is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills Coons has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Apr 16, 2024. See full analysis methodology.

Committee Membership

Christopher Coons sits on the following committees:

• Senate Select Committee on Ethics Chair
• Senate Committee on Appropriations
  • State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs subcommittee Chair

  Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, Defense, Energy and Water Development, Financial Services and General Government, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies subcommittees
• Senate Committee on the Judiciary
  • Intellectual Property subcommittee Chair

  Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, Criminal Justice and Counterterrorism, Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety, Privacy, Technology, and the Law subcommittees
• Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
  Africa and Global Health Policy, East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy, Multilateral International Development, Multilateral Institutions, and International Economic, Energy, and Environmental Policy, State Department and USAID Management, International Operations, and Bilateral International Development subcommittees
• Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

Enacted Legislation

Coons was the primary sponsor of 20 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

• S. 2438: Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2024
• S. 769: U.S. Hostage and Wrongful Detainee Day Act of 2023
• S. 4662 (117th): Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2023
• S. 270 (117th): Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park Expansion and Redesignation Act
• S. 3975 (117th): Victims of Child Abuse Act Reauthorization Act of 2022
• S. 3075 (117th): Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2022
• S. 1813 (117th): Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Act

View All »

Does 20 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.

We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Coons sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

International Affairs (27%) Commerce (23%) Labor and Employment (13%) Education (8%) Energy (8%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (8%) Taxation (7%) Environmental Protection (6%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Coons recently introduced the following legislation:

• S. 4110: A bill to reauthorize the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
• S. 4057: Stop Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act of 2024
• S. 4037: A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to modify delayed notice …
• S. 4030: Safe SHORES Act of 2024
• S.Res. 610: A resolution honoring Dr. Jane Goodall and her legacy as an ethologist, conservationist, …
• S. 3994: Locally Led Development and Humanitarian Response Act
• S. 3971: Small Business Contracting Transparency Act of 2024

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Missed Votes

From Nov 2010 to Apr 2024, Coons missed 109 of 4,446 roll call votes, which is 2.5%. This is on par with the median of 2.8% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:

• unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
• The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
• GPO Member Guide for the photo
• GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills